Ebonyi APC guber candidate seeks police investigation on alleged manhandling of Catholic priest

Sen. Sonni Ogbuoji, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ebonyi, has called for a full police investigation on the alleged manhandling of a Catholic priest in the state, Rev.Father Mathew Orie.

Orie was reportedly attacked by a revenue agent of the Ebonyi Government at Abakaliki Rice Mill, when the clergyman allegedly refused to pay a settlement fee of N500 to the agent after paying the stipulated revenue fees to the mill.

Ogbuoji in a letter to the Catholic Bishop of Abakaliki Diocess, Most Rev. Michael Okoro, and made available to newsmen by his Media Coordinator, Ikenna Emewu, on Tuesday in Abakaliki, condemned the dastardly act.

The senator, who is representing Ebonyi South Senatorial District, decried the manner people were allegedly being oppressed in the state.

He expressed concern over the nefarious activities of alleged political thugs, who reportedly go round the major towns in the state, removing the campaign posters of the opposition candidates.

He also kicked against the alleged brutalisation of some APC faithful and supporters in the state ahead of the general elections.

The APC governorship candidate charged Ebonyi people to rise against impunity, torture, intimidation, multiple taxation of the citizenry by the present administration in the state.

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”I therefore urge the citizens to rise to the occasion and extricate themselves from this reign of impunity,” he said.

He also urged the people to vote for “a new order and government that will respect and uphold their rights and rule of law.”

The law maker said that there could be no justification for the brutal attack on the Catholic priest and called on the police to bring the perpetrator to book.

”I urge the Commissioner of Police to ensure that the perpetrator of this brutality is arrested and adequately punished in line with the law.

This will help to serve as deterrent to hundreds of others who are taking the law into their hands,” he added.

When contacted, the command’s spokesperson, Mrs Lovett Odah, confirmed the attack on the priest, saying that the police had commenced investigation into the matter. (NAN)